The electroencephalogram in hypoparathyroidism with tetany and epilepsy.

PARATHYROID insufficiency, whether idiopathic or postoperative, may be accompanied by epilepsy and occasionally by psychosis in addition to the usual signs and symptoms of tetany. The study of the electroencephalogram in patients having this glandular deficiency is, therefore, of the utmost importance. Little has been written on this topic. Only one paper is known to us, namely, that by Odoriz et al. (1). There are a few publications, however, which contain reports of isolated clinical cases, with references to electroencephalography (Kowallis (2); Sutphin et al. (3); Taubenhaus and Engle (4)). CLINICAL MATERIAL There were 14 patients, 13 females and 1 male, in whom the diagnosis of parathyroid deficiency had been made on the basis of a definite history of tetany, signs of peripheral neuromuscular hyperexcitability and a subnormal level of plasma calcium. Their ages ranged between 21 and 43 years. In 3 cases the signs and symptoms appeared spontaneously but in 11 cases they developed following thyroidecto...